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June 27: Strengthening Taiwan’s International Ties: Perspectives from TUPP 2024

June 27: Strengthening Taiwan’s International Ties: Perspectives from TUPP 2024

Thursday, June 27, 2024 from 9:30 – 11:00 AM (EST)

Webcast (RSVP here)

About this event:

The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) is pleased to invite you to a panel discussion, “Strengthening Taiwan’s International Ties: Perspectives from TUPP 2024.” 

Following the Democratic Progressive Party’s victory in the 2024 Taiwan presidential election, Taiwan faces even greater pressure from China in regards to its international space and security. As a new administration comes into office, it will be important for Taiwan to continue to build its resiliency through ties—both formal and informal—with its like-minded partners and to bolster Taiwan’s own civil defense capabilities. Featuring perspectives from 2024 participants of the Taiwan-US Policy Program and drawing upon each participants’ unique background expertise, this panel will include discussions of ways in which Taiwan can strengthen its resiliency through international partnerships and corresponding domestic policy.

The Taiwan-US Policy Program (TUPP) is a groundbreaking two-week program that was launched in 2017. Initially designed to enhance the understanding of Taiwan among future US policy leaders, the program was expanded to include future European policy leaders starting in 2022. TUPP consists of two consecutive components: seminars in Washington, DC and a research trip to Taiwan. Organized by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) and co-funded by GTI, the Henry Luce Foundation and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, TUPP provides a unique opportunity for the emerging leaders from the United States and Europe to gain the necessary personal experiences in Taiwan that will enable them to appreciate Taiwan’s perspectives on cross-strait matters, Taiwan’s role in the world, and the importance of US-Taiwan relations.

The panelists include: Alicja Bachulska (European Council on Foreign Relations), Leland Lazarus (Florida International University), Theresa Winter (Friedrich Naumann Foundation), and Brian Volsky (Foreign Policy for America). This event will be moderated by GMF’s Managing Director Bonnie Glaser and GTI Program Manager Adrienne Wu.

The event will be live-streamed on our website and YouTube beginning on Thursday, June 27 at 9:30 AM EST (3:30 CET). Questions for the panel may either be sent by e-mail to contact@globaltaiwan.org, or through the chat function on the YouTube page.

The Panelists:

Alicja Bachulska is a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, based in ECFR’s Warsaw office. Prior to joining ECFR, she worked for over six years as a China analyst at the Asia Research Centre, a think-tank based at the War Studies University in Warsaw. Since 2019, she has been part of MapInfluenCE, an international project researching Chinese and Russian influence in the V4 region. Bachulska holds a PhD from the Graduate School for Social Research (GSSR), Polish Academy of Sciences.

Leland Lazarus is the Associate Director of National Security at FIU’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy. An expert on China-Latin America relations, he leads a research team on US-China national security issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. Lazarus has served as Special Assistant at US Southern Command and a State Department Foreign Service Officer in China and the Caribbean. Fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, he holds degrees from Brown University and the Tufts Fletcher School. 

Theresa Winter is policy advisor for security and defence policy at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in the Global Themes Department. Prior to that, she worked for the US company Lockheed Martin, focusing on government relations, nuclear sharing, and missile defense. Theresa is extended board member of the network Women in International Security Deutschland (wiis.de). She studied Crisis and Security Management at Leiden University and European Studies at the University of Magdeburg and Brno.

Brian Volsky is the Senior Diplomacy Advisor at Foreign Policy for America, where he leads the organization’s work to strengthen and modernize American diplomacy. Prior to joining FP4A, he worked for the Department of State as a senior investigative counsel in the Office of Inspector General, where he investigated allegations of senior official misconduct and led special reviews into systemic issues impacting the Department and the Foreign Service. Brian has over a decade of US government experience, including as an attorney at the Department of Commerce, where he advised on export control and sanctions law and represented the Bureau of Industry and Security in administrative enforcement actions. He holds a B.A. in International Studies and East Asian Languages & Cultures from Indiana University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. 

The Moderators:

Bonnie S. Glaser is managing director of GMF’s Indo-Pacific program. She is also a nonresident fellow with the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, and a senior associate with the Pacific Forum. She is a co-author of US-Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to a Crisis (Brookings Press, April 2023). She was previously senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Glaser has worked at the intersection of Asia-Pacific geopolitics and US policy for more than three decades.

Adrienne Chih-fang Wu is a program manager at the Global Taiwan Institute and the host and producer of Taiwan Salon, GTI’s cultural policy and soft power podcast. She is a member of the UC Berkeley US-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where she is conducting a research project on the barriers to importing Taiwanese cultural products. Previously a Taiwan Delegate for Strait Talk 2023 at George Washington University, she is currently a Strait Talk facilitator-in-training. Before joining GTI, she graduated from Ritsumeikan University and Kyunghee University with a Dual Master’s Degree in International Relations. She spent seven years living in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan—including three years of teaching English in Japan and Taiwan and a year of study at Waseda University while pursuing her B.A. in Honors East Asian Studies from McGill University.

Event Summary

On June 27, 2024, the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI) hosted a web panel titled “Strengthening Taiwan’s International Ties: Perspectives from TUPP 2024,” featuring Alicja Bachulska (European Council on Foreign Relations), Leland Lazarus (Florida International University), Theresa Winter (Friedrich Naumann Foundation), and Brian Volsky (Foreign Policy for America). This event was moderated by German Marshall Fund (GMF) Managing Director Bonnie Glaser and GTI Program Manager Adrienne Wu. 

The event began with remarks from Adrienne Wu and Bonnie Glaser, introducing the Taiwan-US Policy Program (TUPP) and its mission of encouraging young professionals to help Taiwan expand its global network, and enabling future leaders to have a deeper understanding of Taiwan through exposure.

Brian Volsky, the first panelist, began by outlining three ways in which the United States can further incorporate Taiwan onto the global stage as a robust democracy. First, the United States should support Taiwan’s increased participation in the Global Summit for Democracy. Second, the United States should strengthen the Global Corporation and Training Framework (GCTF, 全球合作暨訓練架構) by encouraging more countries to join as partners, and through the creation of a GCTF franchise fund authorized by Congress. Lastly, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should work with the Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF, 財團法人國際合作發展基金會), its counterpart in Taiwan.

Next, Alicja Bachulska outlined the geopolitical environment of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the realization that issues in the Indo-Pacific are connected to issues in Eastern Europe—especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and in light of China rebuilding CEE’s regional security architecture in line with Moscow’s interests. She pointed out that support for Taiwan in CEE countries is very polarized— especially with the increase in far-right support in Eastern Europe, and the fact that far-right parties in Europe do not view Taiwan as important. She lastly stated that Taiwan is a strategic partner with which to exchange knowledge and perspectives on the China-Russia cooperation, an economic partner to develop operation and cutting-edge technology, and a creative partner in fighting disinformation.

Leland Lazarus, the next speaker, focused on Latin American (LatAm) cooperation with Taiwan. He first mentioned that one reason why it is important for Taiwan to maintain official diplomatic allies in the western hemisphere is that it provides Taiwan’s leaders with a reason to travel through the United States. He then spoke on the impact of Overseas Investment and Development Corp. (OIDC) projects, noting that—unlike the Belt and Road Initiative—OIDC projects hire local workers and source local materials. Additionally, they are essential for local communities: pointing out as one example a hospital that was built during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, despite the importance of having allies in the LatAm region, the region overall has not been attractive for Taiwanese businesses. Finishing the discussion with a few proposals, he recommended that Taipei should first discuss joining the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity and upscaling the region’s workforce with Washington. Then, he suggested that Taiwan should expand the Central America Trade Office (CATO) to include a mandate that promotes trade with all of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the region. Third, Taiwan should invest strategically in Latin America and Caribbean countries such as the lithium triangle (Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile) to secure the raw materials needed to power AI. Lastly, Taiwan needs to develop a more robust public diplomacy strategy to show the good that Taiwan does for people in the region.

Finally, Theresa Winter spoke about civil-military partnerships. She noted that many countries are now waking up to the fact that war is used as part of statecraft, and that there needs to be a stronger focus on civil-military relations and civil resistance. Although civil resistance was always talked about in Germany, it never came to fruition. Taiwan on the other hand, has seen grassroots initiatives that are great examples from which to learn. Still, there are questions that have yet to be solved: such as how civil society organizations can cooperate with the military, and how to increase military representation in civil defense efforts.

This summary was written by GTI Summer 2024 Intern Kevin Sun.

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